I need a day off from retirement

By Dan Barber

The summer flash flood damage has been repaired; the old popcorn coated ceilings have disappeared and a new texture coat applied along with a coat of paint… thanks to my daughter for her death defying balancing act on top of some wiggly ladders. The two-year old grandson was there telling her, “be careful Mommy,” which just goes to show that even a two-year old knows the danger of heights!

I managed to get the walls all painted and new vertical blinds installed on the windows to protect the neighbors from a frightful sight.

Now the process of re-hanging photos and other do-dads and sorting through my movie collection is underway to restore the proper alphabetical order on the shelves so the grandchildren can find the title they are searching for at grandpa’s free video rental service. I thought that once I retired I would have some time to view some of the movies that I had purchased months ago and partake in movie marathon viewing of old favorites… maybe one of these days.

By some miracle, this year’s Christmas shopping for the nine grandchildren has been completed for some time… in year’s past I was fighting crowds of other procrastinating shoppers up until Christmas Eve day. Next on the to-do list, is to host a wedding reception for the oldest granddaughter and new grandson in-law, which necessitated the recent rush on the ceiling rehab. Then come January, I will have to pack up my granddaughter’s belongings in the back of my pick up and hook up a car trailer to haul her car and all of her stuff up to Seattle where her fiancé is stationed with the U.S. Army.

She vacillates from giddy to sad because she is anxious to start a new adventure, but at the same time reluctant to give up her desert home. Some would find moving to the green beauty of the Pacific Northwest out of a desert landscape to be a blessing. However, this grandchild has always hated change of any sort, and she absolutely loves the beauty of the desert landscape where she grew up. Listening to “29 Palms” a song featuring our little community, in Robert Plant's 1993 Fate of Nations LP, can maybe give someone a feeling for this place.

As soon my wife and I learned about our granddaughter’s planned marriage we purchased a coffee cup for her that announces that she is a “Proud Army Wife!”

We were just putting the finishing touches on our recent home rehab work when the granddaughter stopped by to survey the work her grandmother and I have done to the house. She was scanning the living room like she was missing something, I asked, “what are you looking for?” She replied, “Nothing, I’m just thinking about how I’m going to decorate in here.” This translates to more work for me. Maybe I’ll get around to watching those new summer DVD releases from last year sometime in February of next year. By the time spring comes around I will have completed a full year of retirement… I need a vacation like I used to take when I was on active duty. Once I took a week off and went bowling everyday. Another time, I took a week off to watch the grass grow in my yard… that is exactly what I did. I pulled out a lawn chair and sat there everyday for a week watching the grass growing and the kids at play.

There are advantages to just sitting and thinking about stuff. Out here in the desert there are very few distractions which is probably why there are an abundance of creative type people living out here. We have a lot of full-time and part-time artists, writers, and musicians and film makers, some famous in their chosen craft and others are working at becoming famous. Of course we do have our share of those citizens who require some sort of chemical to get them through their day. I have warned people at my work that if they see an individual dancing around in the parking lot of the local grocery store and they don’t hear any music playing, to stay away from that individual or stand back and enjoy the performance artist at work.

I chose to live out here in the desert because it’s where my work was located, then my children grew up here, grandchildren were all locally born desert rats and I really enjoy the solitude of a quiet life. In the summer I can turn out all of the house lights lay in my pool at night and enjoy the breathtaking view of the universe while thinking about how lucky I am. Come to think about it, maybe I had to retire so I could get back to the work of living life.